Reforming the reformation system

It was like a “horror” story culled from the narratives and timelines established in the multi-agency investigations on the ambush killing of broadcaster Percy a.k.a. Lapid Mabasa. Department of Justice (DOJ) Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla could only describe this way these horrible crimes were committed as pieced together by the investigators. And the other half of this “horror” story, Remulla rued, was the subsequent murder of Jun Villamor, the “middleman” in the Lapid slay, that was done by his own “pangkat,” or fellow cellblock inmates at the National Bilibid Penitentiary (NBP) at Muntinlupa City.

Remulla first gave the public a preview of this “horror” story two days before the formal charges of murder and other criminal and administrative charges were filed against liable government officials and several persons deprived of liberty (PDLs). Speaking at “The Executive Session” radio program aired every Saturday morning, Remulla did not mention yet those who would be formally charged.

Assisted by Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary BenHur Abalos, Remulla presented to the media last Monday the two separate formal complaints and sworn affidavits against suspended Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) chief Gerald Bantag, BuCor director for security and operations Ricardo Zulueta, and 10 PDLs at the NBP jailed in separate penal colonies run by the BuCor. They are the “dirty dozen” of men with checkered backgrounds and criminal records who plotted to kill Lapid and Villamor one after the other.

Bantag and Zulueta have had a long working relationship with jailed criminals in their career together at the BuCor. Bantag allegedly gave the order to kill Lapid and tasked Zulueta to lay down the instructions on how to deliver the hit. Zulueta then gave the instructions to the respective heads of the criminal gangs from the Iwahig Prison in Palawan to Batang City Jail, Sputnik, and the HappyGoLucky prison gangs at the NBP.

Another middleman being held by the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) ended up hiring the gunman, Joel Escorial. After getting paid P550,000 through the banking system, Escorial received the instructions and carried out the assassination of Lapid on the night of Oct.5.

Another timeline showed how Villamor was killed on alleged orders of Bantag as cascaded in the same manner.

“Sinupot sya,” Remulla narrated on how Villamor was killed without visible physical or medical trace. (He was asphyxiated using a plastic bag). This was based on the post-autopsy examination done by forensic pathologist Raquel Fortun who also found the victim was a shabu user. From the testimonies of his cellmates who carried out the “kill” order, Villamor did not even struggle nor resisted, Remulla noted with horror.

“Everything was done out of fear. You think these are hard-nosed convicts?” Remulla noted. “Because the persons who were executing him (Villamor) were all his cellmates who had no choice because the order came from somebody they could not refuse,” the Justice Secretary surmised.

Thus, Remulla reiterated his belief that the two murders are “95 percent” completed. The remaining balance, he explained, is tracing the final end of the money trail, with the help of the Anti-Money Laundering Council.

What boggled his mind, Remulla admitted, is how such seeming organized criminal activities persisted inside the walls of supposedly maximum security cells and well guarded walls of the sprawling State Penitentiary complex. The facts of the two murder cases that came out in the course of the investigations, the Justice Secretary pointed out, clearly showed the very strong presence of criminal organizations operating from within the prison walls through these years.

What further came out of solving these two murder cases is like opening a Pandora’s box.

Other than these criminal activities, there is a “centralized system” on how contrabands get in and out of the NBP. Drones are reportedly even being used to deliver shabu inside the NBP premises. All of these illegal activities have been taking place with the obvious tacit knowledge of prison officials all the way to the top.

“The impunity here is very baffling. The facts about the illegal acts in Bilibid are still unfurling but we still have so many questions about the presence of liquor and drugs from within, as well as the death of drug lords and many more. There’s so much crime that we need to look into,” he vowed.

All the Justice Secretary needs to do is fully implement Republic Act (RA) No. 11928 approved during the 18th Congress while he was still a Congressman of Cavite. This is the law seeking to establish an Alcatraz-like facility for those convicted of heinous crimes. The Alcatraz was a former maximum security prison located on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay. The most hardened criminals were taken to this facility located off the coast of California where anyone who dares to escape will die in the icy waters of the Bay.

Actually, it was one of the 41 bills that lapsed into law last July 30, without the signature of erstwhile President Rodrigo Duterte.

Former Senate president Vicente “Tito” Sotto III, a pro-life advocate pushed for its enactment in lieu of re-imposing the death penalty. Under this law, the maximum security prison facility shall be built in a location away from the general population and other PDLs, preferably within a military establishment, or on an island separate from the mainland. The bill, which seeks to decongest jails and deter crimes, also directs the Justice Department to determine the location of the facility.

Sotto and like-minded lawmakers strongly supported the reformation punishment to reform the criminal, making them a better person. Reformative theory considers punishment to be curative more than to be deterrent. According to this theory, crime is like a disease which cannot be cured by killing rather than curing it with the medicine with the help of process of reformation.

But the most urgent priority is obviously reforming first our reformation system.